Christie Kelly: Davos, Day 1

As I said in yesterday’s post, this year’s WEF theme is “Responsive and responsible leadership.” What does that mean in practice? Today was a day to learn more.

Responsive and responsible means learning from people by listening and interacting with them:

Refusing to be detached from the world and its challenges.

Looking for decision makers: anyone at any level in any organization with the courage to contract with the future.

Seeking out visionaries, pilots who can guide our future thinking.

And ultimately, realizing that all intellectual and emotional intelligence is valued…and needed.

We need an ‘all systems go’ mindset! Particularly in a time of political and economic unrest, consider the value of these four pillars and priorities of responsive and responsible leadership:

1. Reinvigorate the economy. As we create new jobs, we recreate confidence. It’s easy to be a pessimist and much harder, but incredibly more valuable, to go forward with confidence in the future and the opportunities it offers, and to commit to help lead the way in your own business and personal life.

2. Restore the social contract. Sign a compact which obliges us to think for the long term and understand what that means for all of us. ‘Improving the state of the world’ is a lofty goal but, working together, it’s achievable. At JLL, as an example, we can, are, and are uniquely placed to lead and influence the future sense of place in ways that keep making a difference. I know of opportunities with at least one existing and one potential client. Our challenge and contribution will be to deliver, not just for two clients, but across our business around the world.

3. Join the Fourth Industrial Revolution: Technology. Some of last year’s WEF topics could have been considered science fiction at the time. A year later, all those elements are coming together and coming on strong: digitization, artificial intelligence, data analytics, you name it. Change is coming like an avalanche. We’re well positioned to take advantage, but we need to remember that, if we’re not contributing to the change, we risk being swept away.

4. Be part of a common global destiny. In the end, we need to be interconnected, within our company and with society as a whole. That means refusing to allow ourselves to be immune to the challenges – and yes the atrocities – we witness around the world. It means being guided by optimism and our ability to create positive change. We are fortunate – as individuals and as a company – to have both qualities in abundance.

4 thoughts on “Christie Kelly: Davos, Day 1”

Great message! I’m excited to share the advantages JLL Business Services will bring such as the Operational Excellence cycle: Perform > Measure > Optimize > Automate with all of JLL. I think it fits well w/ each of your 4 points: reinvigorate economy, restore social contract, technology and global destiny!